The One Eyed Emperor
by Skrewksy
Summary: Left an orphan by a Stray Devil, Issei Hyoudou is taken in by Sirzechs Lucifer. Issei's desire to become like his saviour pushes him to unlock his Sacred Gear early on. Whether this is a good or bad things remains to be seen.


I, Sirzechs Lucifer am not one for aimless wondering but I do sometimes like to spend my time away from all of the dealing of the Devils. During one of these escapes I sensed a peculiar dark aura in what would become my sisters territory. This is definitely the power of a Stray Devil.

Swiftly moving towards the source I found it to be a small house, the dark aura practically coming off in waves. I quickly entered the house to find a man lying dead, most of his body seemed like it was devoured by some beast. There is a trail of blood that go up the stairs. Following the trail I find another victim, a woman, her chest had been ripped open. I grew used to such sights since the Civil War but that doesn't make them any less gruesome.

"G-Get away! Mommy! Daddy! HEEEEELP! ANYONE! AGGGGGHHHHH!" A piercing scream from what sound like a child draws my attention from the dead woman and I quickly rush towards the source. There are more blood trails. Looking into the open door I find a lanky, black demon, most likely the Stray Devil, judging by it's leathery wings and horns it's been strayed for long, long enough that evil had taken it over.

Without hesitation I fire a blast of destructive power and quickly kill the beast, it's body turning to dust. As it's remains settle down onto the floor and disappear I see a small figure curled up, holding a hand to it's face.

"Are you alright? Did the monster hurt you?" The pain is unbearable, even though I still hear the voice. Looking with one eye at the speaker, I find a man with bright red hair, his clothes look casual but still expensive, his blue green eyes gaze at me with sorrow and regret. I am fascinated by this man, by the mysterious aura surrounding him, the perfect posture he displays and by the kindness that is mixed with the regret and sorrow in his eyes. I extend my other hand, the one that is not over my eyes, he takes it and takes me in his arms.

This child is no older than five and yet had been orphaned by a beast such as that. Finding it my duty to take care of this child after his parents had been killed mercilessly by something that was once a Devil, I took the child under my wing. I learned quickly that his name is Issei and that his age is like I guessed barely five. I asked him what happened but he only recalled being put to sleep by his mother before hearing his father scream, followed quickly by his mother.

Even with the best healers of the Gremory family, all they could do was repair the eye but not his sight, leaving the small child with a right eye that could not see, it's color quickly changed from warm brown to muddy white predominant in most blind people. While I was worried for his mental health after such an ordeal he seems to mostly normal, taking the news of his parents and eyes with the innocence that only a child could have.

Since he had been orphaned by one that should have been our own I decided to teach him about the Supernatural since once someone encounters it, they will run into it more and more until they are absorbed into this world. His child mind seems to have trouble with the more complicated subjects like how all of the mythologies work but he seems to understand most of it.

"Sirzechs-nii, if you are Lucifer, and he is the original Satan did you send the Demon to us? Were my parents bad people?" A question I expected at some point, I had yet to explain the whole inner workings of Devil society and Evil Pieces.

"Of course I didn't. The thing that attacked you was once a Devil but it had been corrupted by it's own greed and sins. I will not order the death of any human, and I'm sure your parents were good people." I proceeded to explain most of Devil lore to him, it took a while but I had time.

"Sirzechs-nii, how did you become so strong?" Another question I expected.

"I was born like this. A Devils demonic power is decided at birth, sometimes by sheer luck, sometimes by careful breeding, my power is the result of both." I tried to explain the complicated subject as easily as I could. Demonic power is a tricky thing, while most Devil have a set amount of Demonic power some are able to grow it while others never even show the slightest growth.

"I want to be as strong as Sirzechs-nii! How can I do it?" This child will prove troublesome. I don't exactly want to break the child's hopes and dreams but unless he proves to either have a strong Sacred Gear or he has extremely high amounts of affinity for Demonic power than I can't see how I will be able to do this without breaking his innocent heart.

"Let me see something." I move up to him and produce a magnifying glass. While simple in design it's actually quite useful, it can read all of the hidden things in someone, specifically affinity with magics and things sealed in their souls.

Looking at Issei's Demonic affinity I find it lacking, the child has no notable lineage, no affinity and no hidden strength in terms of magic, I find this disappointing but when I look deeper I see an image which makes me shiver. A giant red Dragon, slumbering, even if he is sealed and in deep sleep the Heavenly Red Dragon Emperor Ddraig is as terrifying and magnificent as ever.

"If you train hard you will be able to one day." I ruffle Issei's brown hair and smile at him.

"What did you see Sirzechs-nii?"

"Inside your soul there is a Dragon. A powerful ancient one, he will appear to you one day and you will be able to wield his power, if you train from now you will definitely be able to be strong."

"A Dragon is fine but I want to be like you Sirzechs-nii!" This enthusiatic statement takes me off-guard. He wants to be like me? A Devil? Logic would dictate that Issei should hate Devils but he seems to be unaffected, come to think of it since I took him in he was always sticking close to me, the servants even joked that he was my lost son or younger brother.

"You want to be like me? A Devil?" I repeat the question I asked myself and get a hearty nod from Issei. I close my eyes in thought. I am a Devil, so I am greedy, having the Red Dragon Emperor on our side would be incredible but I'm not sure if it's the right choice since we are talking about a small child here.

"I know that the monster was bad so I want to be like Sirzechs-nii and save people from them!" This child seriously.

* * *

"Hello Ajuka." In response to the greeting, my green haired childhood friend waved lazily from behind his desk.

"Who's the kid? You haven't cheated on Grayfia have you?"

"Satan no!"

"My name is Issei Hyoudou. It is nice to meet you Beelzebub-sama." Issei speaks politely, it seems all of the time spent around me and the Gremory estate has rubbed off on him.

"So? What's the deal?" Ajuka asked looking back at me.

"Issei wants to become a Devil, it's a long story. I was wondering if you could somehow make him Rias's servant."

"That is some request... It is possible, I can reincarnate him using the pieces which will become hers but he won't be a servant of the Gremory family, he will be a free Devil in a sense, until Rias-chan gets her pieces that is." I see that makes sense. Since the Evil Pieces work the way they do Issei will not be bound to a King, he will be a free Devil until my sister claims the pieces.

"Who's Rias?" Issei asks tugging on my sleeve.

"Rias is my little sister, she's two years younger than you, I believe." I answer as Issei gazes at me with his wide innocent eyes.

"Are you sure he isn't your lost son or something like that? You _were_ a womanizer before Grayfia came along." At Ajuka's words I can feel my face heat up.

"That was a long time ago!" Ajuka looks at me with a raised eyebrow and sighes.

"Indeed it was, but I'm sure everyone still remembers how Sirzechs Gremory, the Hero of the Anti-Satan faction was before he was tamed by his wife." Damn you Ajuka! Damn you and your stupid smirk! "Come, let's make the kid a Devil if that's really what he wants."

And with that Issei had become a Devil.

Since he had become a Devil Issei had kept training day and night, the first day he had collapsed from exhaustion, I told him that he doesn't have to train that hard but he didn't listen and continued to exhaust himself.

Like I have seen with the help of the magnifying glass Issei barely has any Demonic energy, that however doesn't seem to stop him, since his Demonic power is so low he seems to concentrate more on the physical aspect of training and his Sacred Gear. Speaking of his Sacred Gear it had already manifested, although the Red Dragon Emperor seems to still be slumbering.

"Hey Issei, if you really want to train I think I have someone who can help you." I don't really know what made me say that but I supposed seeing him work so hard reminded me of how Ajuka and I tried to claim the title of Lucifer for ourselves.

"Who?" He asked stopping his training.

"Well, he was a Dragon but is now a Devil, he will probably know how to train you more than me or anyone else will ever know." These words sealed my fate since Issei would keep asking to train with who I had in mind.

I eventually gave in and he met Tannin, becoming his discipline. Under his care I got some free time, around half a year to be exact, Issei had spent most of his days with the Dragon King, I usually visited him but for the last two months I was incredibly busy.

Eventually I found the time and went to see how he was doing. I found him exhausted, sleeping soundly.

"That kid, he doesn't know when to give up. For half a year he has gone to sleep only when he collapsed. I have trained some people in the past but usually when I would beat them to the ground they would lose their will, this kid however, he just keeps going until he can't anymore, and even then he just sleeps and goes at it again. I'm seriously worried about him." The giant Dragon King said gazing at Issei, I also stared at him, visible on his body were bruises, and his muscle definition was too much for such a small child. "Did you know he already achieved Balance Breaker." The question that was delivered more like a statement made my eyes go wide and I whipped my head back to look at Tannin in shock.

"What!?"

"Shhh..."

"Right. Sorry. But still, how?!"

"Every time I gave the kid free time I would find him playing with Ddraig's gauntlet, he would stand still and just double his power, just sit there and do it until he would collapse, thirty minutes later he would wake up and do it again. I once let him do this for a whole week just to see his limit. He doubled his power five thousand times, he is still a child but by the end he was probably close to my level of power. A child, barely six, for around ten minutes, had as much power as an ancient Dragon." Just what have I gotten myself into.

Tannin had confessed that he had nothing else to teach Issei so in order to stop his almost self-destructive tendencies I sent him on a trip, accompanied by a maid from the Gremory house. She would also take care of his schooling during this time. Can't have a future servant of the Gremory family be illiterate.

Four years and Issei came back. From what the maid tells me he still trained himself but she made sure that he didn't collapse like he used to, when he came back I also noticed that instead of the medical white eye-patch, he now had a black, leather one. I must say it fits him, the whole look with the eye-patch and somewhat fancy clothes make him look like some young heir of a mafia family.

As soon as I see Sirzechs-nii he runs up to me and crushes me into a hug surprising Mary who has taken care of me for these four years.

"Sirzechs-nii, I can't breath!" I say patting his shoulder as if I was tapping out.

"Just a minute. I need to check if you have damaged anything." Sirzechs-nii says and starts to check me all over. Apparently satisfied he lets me go and nods and looks at me with a prideful expression.

"So what have you learned during your travels?" He asks.

"Well-" And so with his usual enthusiastic voice that I admit to have missed, he begins to tell me about everything he has done and seen. I am genuinely impressed when he tells me that he has learned hand-to-hand combat, specifically Krav Maga, a martial art the humans developed, from what I heard myself and what Issei tells me it's quite efficient, especially considering that most of the humanoid beings have the same weak-spots no matter the race.

* * *

It had been some time since I returned so I decided to see what has changed in the Underworld, I took Mary with me and began looking around the countrysides of the Underworld. During this time I found a boy, probably younger than me, he was crying while doing push-ups. Feeling intrigued I sneaked up on him.

"You're form is wrong." The voice from above startled me and I looked up to see a boy with brown hair and one visible brown eye, the other being obscured by a leather eye-patch, his clothes seemed like those of a noble. Great, another gifted jerk to salt my wounds.

"What would someone like you know! Look at you, you have everything you need! Unlike you I have to work to get my power! While you just had to be lucky at birth! Do you know how hard it is to get up when all of your bones creak!" I did not mean to break down like that but once the first words were out of my mouth I just couldn't stop, meanwhile the boy just looked at me strangely as if he was seeing something in me. I calmed down and rose to my feet, I just wanted to get out of here.

"Wait!" The boy pulled my hand just as I turned around. Without another word he just removed his jacket and shirt handing them to the maid I just now noticed. Now that his body was bare I could see everything, every little bruise and scratch and even some small burn marks. Whoever this boy was, he had clearly went through a lot, and judging by his already developed muscle definition I can guess how he acquired whatever power he had. I was fascinated by him, standing there, barely older than me yet holding himself like a veteran soldier, although his posture was perfect, his eyes betrayed the giddiness and enthusiasm typical of children our age.

"Now, like I was saying, your form is wrong." With that he proceeded to teach me various things showing me ways I can improve and the correct form of many excercises.

* * *

"Want to spar?" Once again I am surprised when the next day he comes back at the same time and sneaks up on me.

"Y-Yeah, sure." With that I get into a stance, it's a poor stance but it will have to do since I only know how to street-fight. Compared to my poor but practical stance, his is not even a stance, he just stays there unmoving but ready to react at any movement.

I lunch towards him with a punch but he quickly slaps it away, balancing myself I try and send a kick to his face but he once again surprises me when he simply catches my foot.

"Your fighting style is not polished at all, you simply throw your whole weight into a strike and hope for the best. This would be an effective strategy in street fighting untrained thugs, but if you want to be strong you'll need to have a good defense and proper movements, light or heavy." My frustration grows and he seems to evade or counter each of my strikes. An idea crosses my mind and I send my fist to the left of his face, he easily blocks it. It's just what I need. As soon as he blocks my right fist, I send my left one, hoping to take advantage of his blind spot. It worked! "Good. You saw my weakness and exploited it." However the celebration is short lived because as soon as I remove my fist there's not even a scratch on him.

With that I continue to try and exploit his blind spot, moving my body to his right and keeping my guard up. Annoyingly however he still manages to block all of my strikes. "Taking advantage of your opponent's weakness is good but don't overuse it since your enemy will learn to counter it. Old man Tannin taught me that!" For the first time since I met this boy he finally shows an expression that conveys his real age.

In the end I barely managed to get one hit in. Now lying on the ground I can only force air into my lungs and gaze at the boy who barely broke a sweat while I'm practically a waterfall.

"That reminds me, I never got your name. I'm Issei Hyoudou by the way." Hyoudou? Probably a reincarnated Devil then, there's no Devil clan with such an oriental name. That however makes me feel even worse. A reincarnated Devil, barely older than me is this strong, while I, the first son of Lord Bael am not even able to beat those Middle-class Devils.

"I'm Sairaorg Bael."

"So you're a Bael, I see. Why were you crying two days ago then, Sai-chan, and what did you mean when you started to shout." Sai-chan? Also I did't cry... I think.

"I-I'm a failure, unlike my Father and younger brother I did not inherit the Power of Destruction so I am not even fit to call myself a Bael, because of that me and my mother have been sent to live here. I... was crying because the other Devils keep laughing and bully me. Because of that my mother told me to get stronger in my own way so that I can shut them up!" Issei looks at me with understanding before he breaks into a grin.

"I'm also a failure as a Devil! I trained really hard however, I trained so hard that I sometimes made Old man Tannin and Sirzechs-nii worry!" The cheerful way he speaks confuses me but when he mentions those two names I am in shock, I had not noticed it before since I was focused on the battle but he already mentioned one of them.

"Tannin? Sirzechs? You mean...?" My unfinished question is answered when he nods. No wonder this boy is so powerful if he was trained by Lucifer-sama and Dragon King Tannin since who knows when.

* * *

And so I spent each day going to Sai-chan sparring and training with him, until one day when Sirzechs-nii stopped me, behind him was small girl, younger than me, she was tightly clinging to Sirzechs-nii, while looking at me.

"Mary tells me you have met my cousin Sairaorg and are training him, I appreciate that." Sirzechs-nii says with a warm smile, I nod and look back at the girl behind him. "Ah, yes. Rias introduce yourself." Sirzechs-nii speaks to the girl and she slowly walks from behind him.

"H-Hello. I am Rias Gremory, nice to meet you." So she's Sirzechs-nii's younger sister.

"I'm Issei Hyoudou, it's also nice to finally meet you Rias-chan." I watch as my sister blushes at the honorific Issei used.

"So Issei, could you take Rias to meet Sairaorg as well, I'm sure she would like to also meet her cousin." Issei nods, Rias seems a little uneasy but as she looks back at Issei she seems to notice something. As they walk off I can hear Rias asking something that makes me roll over in laughter.

"Are you a pirate?"

"No, although that would be so cool!"

* * *

AN: Well... I'm sorry. It's been so long since I've done anything. So long that I've lost any ideas I might have had about my previous stories. In any case I will try and update this one since I quite like it, I also have been thinking of rewriting Crimson Angel since I don't like it all.

I'm not sure about how mature I've made Issei and Sairaorg seem, Issei would be ten and Sairaorg eight but considering their upbringing I'm not sure. Ah yes, as you saw Issei is two years older than Rias. Why? Why not?

This has been a sort of prologue. I'm not sure if I should make the next chapter a time skip to canon time or continue with Issei's childhood with Rias, probably the latter. See you whenever. And I'm sorry again.


End file.
